So I have been reworking my hand outs for my "Flat to Circular and Back Again" class and it has made me think about working flat versus working circular. Most of the folks that come to class are trying to get from flat to circular, but how many need to get back again?
Creating the fabric as you create the garment provides a great deal of flexibility in the construction, but I think that my not always be a good thing. The reality is that seams provide garment stability and structure and for some garments, this is critical. Also for most knitters, our gauge working back and forth is different than our gauge working in the round. If you exclude yoked sweaters and sweaters with steeks, most "seamless" sweaters require knitting both flat & circularly. So what is a knitter to do?
Well, I have to confess that generally I prefer the uninterrupted pattern resulting from the lack of seams. But I also know that often the structure of the seam is critical to the piece. Every knitted item has to be considered based on its own criteria and there is no "best answer". So I guess when asked whether flat or circular my answer is the not very helpful "it depends"!
Creating the fabric as you create the garment provides a great deal of flexibility in the construction, but I think that my not always be a good thing. The reality is that seams provide garment stability and structure and for some garments, this is critical. Also for most knitters, our gauge working back and forth is different than our gauge working in the round. If you exclude yoked sweaters and sweaters with steeks, most "seamless" sweaters require knitting both flat & circularly. So what is a knitter to do?
Well, I have to confess that generally I prefer the uninterrupted pattern resulting from the lack of seams. But I also know that often the structure of the seam is critical to the piece. Every knitted item has to be considered based on its own criteria and there is no "best answer". So I guess when asked whether flat or circular my answer is the not very helpful "it depends"!